Managing an online store in 2022, is not that simple. Due to the intense competition present among internet merchants, you need to constantly develop new strategies to meet the changing customer demands and stay on top. For ecommerce owners, it means reaching where your customer is, and that is social media – particularly Facebook. In this blog, we will dwell a little deeper on the topic and explore some effective Facebook marketing strategies that will help boost your brand.

So, let’s begin!

Social Media and Consumer Behavior

According to a Hubspot report, around 71% of consumers are now more inclined to base a purchase choice on recommendations from social media. Another study by the digital marketing agency ODM Group suggests a similar trend. It claims that around 74% of consumers now rely on social networks to make buying decisions. 

The fascinating truth, though, is that Facebook alone accounts for over 52% of consumer purchasing decisions across all social media platforms. By examining all of these data, it is clear that ecommerce social media marketing has a big influence on how consumers spend their hard-earned cash. Many e-commerce marketers and social media gurus have already begun using social media platforms as a result of their realization of this fact.

How to Develop Your Facebook Ecommerce Marketing Strategies

You must first develop a strategy before launching Facebook Ads or organic ads.  Otherwise, you risk blowing cash without understanding how much you’re wasting. Your eCommerce brand will benefit from having a well-thought-out Facebook advertising strategy from the beginning as it will help you cut costs and increase the effect.

Steps to follow:

Determine your goals

Facebook is a very flexible tool that can assist you in achieving a variety of objectives. However, every objective needs a unique strategic plan. Online retailers frequently have the following objectives from their Facebook eCommerce strategy: 

•       Increasing brand recognition and word-of-mouth
•       reaching more prospective clients
•       Increasing interaction and sales   

Determine your budget

Yes, posting on social media is technically free. However, what we refer to as “organic” marketing on Facebook can actually be rather expensive due to the time and work required. These initiatives occasionally cost more than sponsored ecommerce social media marketing since organic marketing is harder to target. Paid advertising, however, may get incredibly pricey if you don’t have a clear strategy. Decide on your budget for each of your marketing objectives in this step.

Find the right team

As a small business owner, you likely began by doing all tasks by yourself, including IT, HR, and accounting.  While that could have worked for a while, moving further, you eventually need to assign these duties to full-time workers or outsource certain tasks to freelancers or service providers.

Use the same strategy for ecommerce social media marketing. You need dedicated staff to manage your paid and/or organic marketing if you want to use social media for large sales. There are three approaches for managing social media professionals:

•       In-house teams
•       Contractors/freelancers
•       Marketing agencies

Top Facebook Marketing Strategies to Increase Sales

Now that you are familiar with the fundamentals of Facebook ecommerce strategies, it’s time to move on to the real techniques you may employ. Below is a selection of 12 of our favorites from our team. Most of these tactics will work for both paid and organic advertising channels. 

There is no one-size-fits-all ecommerce digital marketing strategy for Facebook. Although Facebook’s algorithms are always evolving, we have seen the following techniques perform well for brands across a variety of industries over a long period of time. If you wish to receive a more personalized plan for your ecommerce business contact our staff right away.

Acquire new customers with custom and lookalike audiences

The first tool in your arsenal for Facebook ecommerce strategy is custom and lookalike audience optimization, which you can use to deliberately draw in more customers.

Facebook’s Custom and Lookalike audiences strategy must target specific new potential client segments in order to be effective. You may better attract more potential customers who are actively looking for what you are selling by optimizing these audiences.

Constantly develop new creative

You run the danger of wearing down your audience by consistently displaying the same adverts, particularly with retargeting efforts. Keep your clients interested by:

• Utilising various forms of creatives for various stages of the buying process.
• Keeping a ready supply of ad-specific creative to use when necessary.
• Using user-generated content as a resource or working with UI UX design services.

You can group and regroup creatives in carousel advertising to modernize outdated graphics. Remember to include video advertising as well—they don’t need to be of the highest caliber to be effective! Even low-cost images or videos can enhance the effectiveness of your Facebook advertising strategy.

Compile and use user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC), particularly on Facebook, is one of the most effective methods for ecommerce social media marketing. Reviews are the most straightforward illustration of this, but UGC also includes consumer images, video testimonials, and more as a result of how simple it is to create material and share it on social media.

UGC works so well in news feeds for a reason. It appears more like private information from your friends and family and less like an advertisement. Additionally, user-generated content (UGC) gives your target market social proof; seeing your products in use makes it easier for people to picture purchasing and using them.

Keep your articles and advertisements on-brand

Being present is crucial to the success of social media, especially organic social media. Your company should typically post once or twice each day. Try several frequencies and times to see which ones result in the most audience interaction. Whatever schedule you decide on, keep it constant so that your audience knows when to expect new content from you.

Leverage your audience analysis.

You need to be learning from what you post in addition to publishing engaging creative. Keep track of which audiences are responding to your paid and organic posts the most. Do they represent the target market for your product? If not, change your targeting to better reach your desired audience. Remember that virtually everyone uses Facebook. Unlike other platforms, Facebook is accessed by different kinds of audience segments and so basically any target audience may be reached through Facebook ads. Just design the perfect campaign to get in front of them.

Make use of giveaways to market your goods.

Giveaways can increase Facebook likes and shares in a manner that few other things can. Because of this, it’s a popular tactic for emerging firms looking to grow their follower count. Typical ecommerce marketing strategies involve giving prizes to users who like your page, share the article, tag friends, or even subscribe to your social media channels. A giveaway is a fantastic approach to increasing brand awareness and foster positive word-of-mouth marketing for your company, if you can afford the cost.

Always interact with your clients.

To get the most out of social media you need to interact with your customers constantly. Positive and negative feedback must be addressed as soon as feasible (and gently) by your brand.  For positive comments always thank them. Ask for permission to use client feedback as user-generated content (UGC) in the next Facebook ad campaigns and invite customers to elaborate on their feedback.

For unfavorable comments make sure you verify the experience and guarantee that your clients feel heard. Also, try your best to provide a fair resolution to their issue. Even if a client declines that offer, other clients will observe your best efforts.

Collaborate with influencers.

You now have the ability to reach a sizable audience thanks to influencers. You may use an influencer’s existing audience to promote your business and products rather than spending years building your own. Examine the audience’s demographics, the things the influencer has previously advertised, and the reaction they have received before deciding to work with them. Ascertain that this collaboration is fit for your brand and decide on the objectives of this partnership.

Monitor the data.

Facebook offers a wealth of information about your eCommerce customers, so make sure that you utilize that in your ecommerce digital marketing strategies. In addition to tracking statistics for your social media and organic postings, the platform also lets you use the Facebook Pixel to monitor which visitors came from those campaigns to your website.

Establish a Facebook store

Convenience is a top priority for consumers, and creating a Facebook Shop for your business makes purchasing your products much simpler. The possibility of conversion reduces when customers must visit your site in order to make a purchase. If they have to go through more hoops, many consumers are less likely to make a purchase, and there’s always a chance that they’ll change their minds once they log out of Facebook. If they do find your site, they might not like the layout of the landing page or they might become distracted while switching between sites. Create a Facebook Shop to steer clear of these dangers.

For unfavorable comments make sure you verify the experience and guarantee that your clients feel heard. Also, try your best to provide a fair resolution to their issue. Even if a client declines that offer, other clients will observe your best efforts.

Include more digital marketing initiatives.

Facebook’s ecommerce strategy is just one element of what ought to be a robust network of online marketing initiatives.  While Facebook’s biggest strength resides in its capacity to raise brand recognition, you’ll need additional tools later in the sales process to convert your potential customers. We advise integrating Search Engine Optimization and/or sponsored search marketing with social media marketing. Don’t forget to apply the knowledge you get from one channel to other channels. 

Market to prospective customers who are unhappy with rivals (intent-based targeting)

Reaching potential customers who have already made purchases from or interacted with your competition is a crucial component of any Facebook advertising strategy to draw in new clients. These prospective customers are searching for alternative brands in addition to having a high buying intent and conversion potential (because they are looking for the kinds of things you sell).

So how do you target these potential clients with your campaigns? Leveraging the potential of Facebook’s interest-based targeting through intent-based Facebook campaign targeting. In other words, you can make a customized audience that includes the brand name of a competitor as an “interest”. Ad set level is where this is done.

Bottom line: Designing the perfect Facebook ecommerce strategy

Although Facebook marketing can bring in a lot of money for your online company, it doesn’t imply that it’s simple.  With the wrong strategy, you could quickly squander money on advertising (as well as time) by pursuing ineffective tactics. Fortunately, the possibilities for success are infinite with a little research and experimentation.

Keep in mind that Facebook policies change all the time. Our social media marketing team is well-equipped to respond to those changes by making continual adjustments to our tactics over time to produce the best outcomes for our clients. It’s possible that some of the strategies we’ve discussed above will lose their effectiveness in the future, so be ready to make strategic adjustments based on the data from your previous campaigns.

If you want to create a highly optimized strategy for your ecommerce store — but don’t have the time to do it yourself — let our social media marketing team help. Get in touch with us now!